Wireless Phone Carrier Seeks To Raise Two Towers

JAMES CITY COUNTY — Cell reception in James City County might be improving after two new structures were proposed to county planners during the past two days.

AT&T filed paperwork with the county on Wednesday to erect a 120-foot-tall cell tower at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 4639 site on Jesters Lane in the Five Forks area. And on Tuesday, the same company asked to install a cell antenna on a Dominion power pole in the Grove community, across the street from Carters Grove park.

That application came attached with a request for a height waiver to allow the communications company to place the antenna 117 feet high, exceeding the 60-foot threshold.

In James City, home to an ever-booming population, need for cell phone coverage has skyrocketed along with needs for schools and water. County planners estimated that James City currently has roughly 30 cell towers, though a majority of those structures share multiple providers.

The Five Forks tower would expand coverage in the middle of an intense expanse of residences, including Powhatan Secondary and southern Ford's Colony. AT&T decided that the VFW Post was the best location to boost its network after surveying the region, said AT&T spokeswoman Beth Gautier.

Whether the tower is able to be easily seen is unknown. The Blacknell-Chess VFW Post sits surrounded by trees, but the tree line is thinner toward busy Monticello Marketplace.

According to paperwork filed with the county, the antenna on the pole in Grove would help cell phone users in the area between and around Busch Gardens and Yorktown Road. The antenna itself would hardly be visible, if at all, said planner Luke Vinciguerra.

"I really don't even think anybody's going to notice it," he said.

Both locations have gotten some unrelated attention recently. A Virginia Beach-based developer has proposed building 70 town homes near Jesters Lane in a project called Monticello at Powhatan North. And the Grove locale is near the affordable-housing project Chestnut Grove that was approved earlier this year.